Methods, apparatus and systems for submitting virtual white line drawings and managing notifications in connection with underground facility locate and marking operations

ABSTRACT

Methods, apparatus, and systems for providing information regarding a locate and/or marking operation to identify a presence or an absence of at least one underground facility within a dig area. At least one notification indicating a status of the locate and/or marking operation is electronically transmitted and/or stored so as to inform at least one party associated with requesting the operation (a “requesting party,” e.g., an excavator, a property owner, a facility owner, a regulatory authority, a damage investigator, etc.) of the status of the operation. In one aspect, a requesting party may designate a preferred format, content, and/or method of receiving notifications regarding the locate and/or marking operation. In another aspect, a computer-generated GUI is provided to facilitate submission of requests, generation of “virtual white line” images to indicate one or more dig areas on a digital image of a work site, and/or selection of notifications and preferences for same. In yet another aspect, a requesting party may provide an acknowledgement of receipt (e.g., a “return receipt”) for one or more received notifications.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

The application claims the benefit, under 35 U.S.C. §120, as acontinuation (CON) of U.S. non-provisional application Ser. No.12/703,313, entitled “Methods, Apparatus, and Systems for ExchangingInformation Between Excavators and Other Entities Associated WithUnderground Facility Locate and Marking Operations,” filed on Feb. 10,2010.

Application Ser. No. 12/703,313 claims a priority benefit, under 35U.S.C. §119(a), to Canadian application serial no. 2,690,239, entitled“Methods and Apparatus for Excavator Notification of UndergroundFacility Locate Operation Status,” filed on Feb. 9, 2010.

Application Ser. No. 12/703,313 claims a priority benefit, under 35U.S.C. §119(e), to U.S. provisional patent application Ser. No.61/151,419, entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Excavator Notificationof Underground Facility Locate Operation Status,” filed on Feb. 10,2009.

Application Ser. No. 12/703,313 also claims a priority benefit, under 35U.S.C. §119(e), to U.S. provisional patent application No. 61/151,425,entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Exchanging Information BetweenExcavators and Other Entities Associated with Underground FacilityLocate Operations,” filed on Feb. 10, 2009.

Each of the above-identified applications is incorporated herein byreference.

BACKGROUND

Field service operations may be any operation in which companiesdispatch technicians and/or other staff to perform certain activities,for example, installations, services and/or repairs. Field serviceoperations may exist in various industries, examples of which include,but are not limited to, network installations, utility installations,security systems, construction, medical equipment, heating, ventilatingand air conditioning (HVAC) and the like.

In the construction industry, for example, the process of locating andmarking underground facilities is an example of a field serviceapplication, often referred to as a “locate and marking operation” (ormore simply referred to as a “locate operation”). In locate operations,a locate technician may use one or more locate devices (e.g., a locatetransmitter and a locate receiver) and a marking device in order toperform the locate operation. A locate receiver is an instrument fordetecting the presence or absence of facilities that are concealed insome manner, such as cables and pipes that are located underground. Alocate receiver is used to detect electromagnetic fields that aregenerated by a detection signal that is emitted from the facility (thedetection signal typically is provided to the facility via a locatetransmitter). A signal, or lack thereof, detected by the locate receiverindicates the presence or absence of the facility.

Once the presence or absence of the facility is detected, a markingmaterial is dispensed on, for example, the surface of the ground at thelocation of the facility. Marking material may be any material,substance, compound, and/or element, used or which may be usedseparately or in combination to mark, signify, and/or indicate. Examplesof marking materials may include, but are not limited to, paint, chalk,dye, and/or iron. Marking devices, such as paint marking wands and/orpaint marking wheels, provide a convenient method of dispensing markingmaterials onto surfaces, such as onto the surface of the ground.

With respect to locate operations, there may be an associated workrequest (i.e., locate request, also referred to as locate request ticketor merely “ticket”) that is originated by, for example, an excavator orother party who wishes to ascertain and/or mark the presence or absenceof one or more underground facilities in a certain geographic region. Alocate request may be any communication or instruction to perform alocate operation at a certain work site, or in some cases multiple worksites, at which one or more dig areas may be designated for plannedexcavation (or more generally, some disturbance of the ground). Today,excavators and other parties are required to notify one-call centers inadvance of their excavation activities and identify through the locaterequest the work site(s)/dig area(s) where individual excavatingactivities/disturbances of the ground are planned. One-call centers maybe any organizations, entities, and/or systems that receive, process,and/or transmit locate requests.

The information on the locate request may include, for example, thephysical address or other location information about the dig area towhich the locate technician is dispatched and the type of service thatis requested, such as detecting and marking one or more types offacilities within a certain area of interest at a certain geographicsite. Additionally, the locate request may specify a “must be completeby” date, a “must be performed on” date, and/or a “do not perform until”date.

In many instances, excavators and other parties who request a locateoperation receive very limited or no notification as to whether or whenthe operation is complete. Once the locate request ticket is in a“closed” status, the one-call center may communicate to the excavatorthat the locate operation is complete. However, this communication maynot be provided in a timely manner. Any delay between performing thelocate operation and the planned excavation represents an inefficiencyin the excavation process and, perhaps, lost profit by the excavationcompanies whose excavators may be unnecessarily idle. Additionally,because there is limited exchange of information between the excavators,other parties requesting locate operations, and locate serviceproviders, there may be confusion as to the scope and status of thelocate operation. In some instances, excavators arrive on site and findthe locate/marking operation not done or done incorrectly; excavatorsoften wait for the “complete by” date to pass, then arrive at the digarea under the assumption that the locate operation has been performed.Consequently, excavators may perform the planned excavation uncertain asto whether the locate operation is complete as requested or has beenperformed satisfactorily prior to beginning the excavation activities.As a result, there is a certain amount of risk of damage to undergroundfacilities.

SUMMARY

Applicants have recognized and appreciated that a need exists for aninformation exchange process not just between excavators and otherparties who may request locate and marking operations (hereafter a“requesting party,” e.g., excavators, property owners, facilitiesowners, regulatory authorities, damage investigators, etc.) and locateservice providers, but also among other key players involved in andrelating to locate and/or marking operations. More specifically, a needexists for better ways of providing information to one or morerequesting parties in a timely manner, for example, to reduceuncertainty and thereby reduce the risk of damage to undergroundfacilities, and in some instances to also improve excavator efficiency.

In view of the foregoing, various inventive embodiments disclosed hereinrelate generally to providing information relating to a locate and/ormarking operation to excavators, other parties requesting locate and/ormarking operations (a requesting party), and/or any other partyassociated with locate and/or marking activities.

In one embodiment, one or more computing devices (e.g., having aprocessor, memory, communications interface, user interface/display,and/or input/output interface, etc.) may be configured so as to providea graphical user interface (GUI) that may be accessed by a requestingparty for a locate and/or marking operation, so as to facilitatesubmission of locate requests as well as selection and/or customizationof “positive response” notifications. For purposes of the presentdisclosure, a “positive response” notification, or more simply“notification,” refers to one or more communications to one or morerequesting parties for a locate and/or marking operation, whichcommunications provide some indication of the status of the operationand/or information relating to one or more elements of performance ofthe operation. In some exemplary implementations, such computingdevices/GUI may be provided by a one-call-center in a givenjurisdiction, to both facilitate submission of locate requests ingeneral, and to further provide for customization in the manner ofreceiving, and contents of, one or more positive response notificationsthat may be provided to the requesting party/parties. In otherimplementations, such computing devices/GUI may be provided by a thirdparty that may be in communication both with one or more requestingparties and a one-call-center issuing locate request tickets.

In exemplary embodiments, in addition to submitting a locate request, invarious aspects a requesting party may specify, via such a GUI, thatthey would like to receive one or more positive response notificationsrelating to the requested locate and/or marking operation. In additionto merely selecting an option to receive one or more positive responsenotifications, the requesting party may specify a particularcommunication mode in which they wish to receive notification(s) (e.g.,text message; e-mail; voice message; etc.) and/or a particular format inwhich they wish to receive notification(s) (e.g., text based; HTML;images; text and images; tables with particular fields; flat files;etc.). Alternatively or additionally, the requesting party may specifyone or more particular times/events during an operation at which theywish to receive notification(s) (e.g., when a locate ticket isdispatched by a one call center; when a ticket is received by a utilityowner/locate contractor; when a locate technician is dispatched; when alocate technician arrives at a work site/dig area; when a locatetechnician begins an operation; when an operation is complete; if andwhen an operation is approved by a supervisor/quality controlassessment; if and when there is some anomaly regarding the operationwith respect to information in the ticket; etc.). Likewise,alternatively or additionally, the requesting party may specifyparticular content that they wish to receive in one or morenotifications (e.g., upon arrival of technician to work site, sendarrival time and geo-location data/GPS coordinates of technicianlocation; upon completion of the operation send a simple notificationindicating such; upon completion of the operation, send a completeelectronic manifest of all work performed during the operation; uponcompletion of the operation, send one or more images of the worksite/dig area illustrating dispensed markings; send a quality assessmentreport or other quality assessment-related information, etc.).

Once a locate request is submitted, along with selection of positiveresponse notification and preferences for same, the computing device(s)may be configured to thereafter receive further information from avariety of sources (e.g., facility owners; locate contractors; variousequipment, instrumentation, and/or vehicles associated with dispatchedtechnicians to perform locate and/marking operations; etc.) relating toallocating tickets to available technicians and dispatching technicians,as well as various steps/events toward performance of the locate andmarking operation. The computing device(s) acquire and process suchinformation so as to appropriately provide positive responsenotification(s) to requesting parties pursuant to their selectedpreferences. In some embodiments, following receipt of a notification, arequesting party may optionally provide, or in some instances bemandated to provide (e.g., by contractual obligation, applicablestatutes/regulations, etc.) an acknowledgement of receipt (e.g., a“return receipt”) for one or more received notifications.

In yet another embodiment, one or more computing devices may beconfigured so as to provide a graphical user interface (GUI) that notonly facilitates submission of locate requests and positive responsenotification preferences, but also allows for the requesting party toprepare and submit a “virtual white lines” (VWL) image as part of thelocate request. As discussed in greater detail herein, a VWL image maycontain a digital image of the work site (or some other suitable digitaldata representing the geographic location of the work site) along withelectronic annotations delimiting one or more dig areas in whichexcavation or disturbances to the ground are planned. Such electronicannotations also are referred to as “dig area indicators,” which may beany electronically generated markings indicating a point, line, pathand/or area of the planned excavation. To facilitate generation of a VWLimage, the computing device(s) may be configured to execute a VWLapplication which may be implemented, for example, as described in thefollowing references: U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/366,853 filedFeb. 6, 2009, entitled “Virtual white lines for delimiting plannedexcavation sites;” U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/475,905 filedJun. 1, 2009, entitled “Virtual white lines for delimiting plannedexcavation sites of staged excavation projects;” and U.S. patentapplication Ser. No. 12/422,364 filed Apr. 13, 2009, entitled “Virtualwhite lines (VWL) application for indicating a planned excavation orlocate path,” each of which patent applications is hereby incorporatedby reference herein in its entirety.

In some implementations relating to VWL images, the digital image onwhich dig area indicators are drawn may be geotagged (i.e., associatedwith geospatial metadata), and the one or more computing devices may beconfigured to execute the VWL application so as to use the geospatialmetadata associated with the digital image to convert locationinformation regarding the dig area indicators and/or landmarks shown inthe digital image into geographic coordinates such as Global PositioningSystem (GPS) coordinates. These geographic coordinates may be stored ina separate data set that may be attached to a locate request instead of,or in addition to, the VWL image. Accordingly, pursuant to thisembodiment, via a suitably-implemented GUI and a VWL application, aparty requesting a locate and/or marking information may: 1) submit alocate request; 2) generate a VWL image and attach the image and/or adata set relating to a VWL image; and/or 3) select to receive one ormore positive response notifications, and preferences for receivingsame.

In sum, one embodiment of the present invention is directed to anapparatus for providing information regarding a locate and/or markingoperation comprising detecting and/or marking, in response to at leastone locate request ticket, a presence or an absence of at least oneunderground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion ofthe dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavationactivities. The apparatus comprises a communication interface; a memoryto store processor-executable instructions; and a processing unitcommunicatively coupled to the communication interface and the memory.Upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by theprocessing unit, the processing unit controls the communicationinterface to receive user input regarding a preferred notification typeand/or a preferred notification communication method for at least onenotification indicating a status and/or providing information relatingto the performance of the locate and/or marking operation; generates theat least one notification based at least in part on the preferrednotification type and/or the preferred notification communicationmethod; and further controls the communication interface and/or thememory to electronically transmit and/or electronically store the atleast one notification so as to inform at least one party associatedwith providing at least one locate request relating to the locate and/ormarking operation of the status and/or performance of the locate and/ormarking operation.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to at least onecomputer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executedon at least one processing unit, perform a method for providinginformation regarding a locate and/or marking operation comprisingdetecting and/or marking, in response to at least one locate requestticket, a presence or an absence of at least one underground facilitywithin a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is plannedto be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities. The methodcomprises A) electronically receiving user input regarding a preferrednotification type and/or a preferred notification communication methodfor at least one notification indicating a status and/or providinginformation relating to the performance of the locate and/or markingoperation; B) generating the at least one notification based at least inpart on the preferred notification type and/or the preferrednotification communication method; and C) electronically transmittingand/or electronically storing the at least one notification so as toinform at least one party associated with providing at least one locaterequest relating to the locate and/or marking operation of the statusand/or performance of the locate and/or marking operation.

A further embodiment of the present invention is directed to a methodfor providing information regarding a locate and/or marking operationcomprising detecting and/or marking, in response to at least one locaterequest ticket, a presence or an absence of at least one undergroundfacility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig areais planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities.The method comprises A) electronically receiving user input regarding apreferred notification type and/or a preferred notificationcommunication method for at least one notification indicating a statusand/or providing information relating to the performance of the locateand/or marking operation; B) generating the at least one notificationbased at least in part on the preferred notification type and/or thepreferred notification communication method; and C) electronicallytransmitting and/or electronically storing the at least one notificationso as to inform at least one party associated with providing at leastone locate request relating to the locate and/or marking operation ofthe status and/or performance of the locate and/or marking operation.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to an apparatusfor providing information regarding a locate and/or marking operationcomprising detecting and/or marking, in response to at least one locaterequest ticket, a presence or an absence of at least one undergroundfacility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig areais planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities.The apparatus comprises a communication interface; a memory to storeprocessor-executable instructions; and a processing unit communicativelycoupled to the communication interface and the memory. Upon execution ofthe processor-executable instructions by the processing unit, theprocessing unit controls the communication interface to receive an inputindicating that the locate and/or marking operation is in progress orcomplete; generates at least one notification indicating that the locateand/or marking operation is in progress or complete; and furthercontrols the communication interface and/or the memory to electronicallytransmit and/or electronically store the at least one notification so asto inform at least one party associated with providing at least onelocate request relating to the locate and/or marking operation that thelocate and/or marking operation is in progress or complete.

A further embodiment of the present invention is directed to at leastone computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, whenexecuted on at least one processing unit, perform a method for providinginformation regarding a locate and/or marking operation comprisingdetecting and/or marking, in response to at least one locate requestticket, a presence or an absence of at least one underground facilitywithin a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is plannedto be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities. The methodcomprises A) electronically receiving an input indicating that thelocate and/or marking operation is in progress or complete; B)generating at least one notification indicating that the locate and/ormarking operation is in progress or complete; and C) electronicallytransmitting and/or electronically storing the at least one notificationso as to inform at least one party associated with providing at leastone locate request relating to the locate and/or marking operation thatthe locate and/or marking operation is in progress or complete.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method forproviding information regarding a locate and/or marking operationcomprising detecting and/or marking, in response to at least one locaterequest ticket, a presence or an absence of at least one undergroundfacility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig areais planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities.The method comprises A) electronically receiving an input indicatingthat the locate and/or marking operation is in progress or complete; B)generating at least one notification indicating that the locate and/ormarking operation is in progress or complete; and C) electronicallytransmitting and/or electronically storing the at least one notificationso as to inform at least one party associated with providing at leastone locate request relating to the locate and/or marking operation thatthe locate and/or marking operation is in progress or complete.

A further embodiment of the present invention is directed to anapparatus for providing information regarding a locate and/or markingoperation comprising detecting and/or marking, in response to at leastone locate request ticket, a presence or an absence of at least oneunderground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion ofthe dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavationactivities. The apparatus comprises a communication interface; a memoryto store processor-executable instructions; and a processing unitcommunicatively coupled to the communication interface and the memory.Upon execution of the processor-executable instructions by theprocessing unit, the processing unit controls the communicationinterface to receive an input indicating that the locate and/or markingoperation is complete; and based on the input indicating that the locateand/or marking operation is complete, further controls the communicationinterface and/or the memory to electronically transmit and/orelectronically store at least one of the following so as to provideinformation concerning the locate and/or marking operation to at leastone party associated with providing at least one locate request relatingto the locate and/or marking operation: (a) a virtual white line imageindicating the dig area; (b) an electronic copy of a completed locaterequest ticket; (c) an electronic manifest image showing details of thelocate and/or marking operation; and (d) an electronic representation ofthe locate and/or marking operation.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to at least onecomputer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executedon at least one processing unit, perform a method for providinginformation regarding a locate and/or marking operation comprisingdetecting and/or marking, in response to at least one locate requestticket, a presence or an absence of at least one underground facilitywithin a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is plannedto be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities. The methodcomprises A) electronically receiving an input indicating that thelocate and/or marking operation is complete; and B) based on the inputindicating that the locate and/or marking operation is complete,electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing at least oneof the following so as to provide information concerning the locateand/or marking operation to at least one party associated with providingat least one locate request relating to the locate and/or markingoperation: (a) a virtual white line image indicating the dig area; (b)an electronic copy of a completed locate request ticket; (c) anelectronic manifest image showing details of the locate and/or markingoperation; and (d) an electronic representation of the locate and/ormarking operation.

A further embodiment of the present invention is directed to a methodfor providing information regarding a locate and/or marking operationcomprising detecting and/or marking, in response to at least one locaterequest ticket, a presence or an absence of at least one undergroundfacility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig areais planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities.The method comprises A) electronically receiving an input indicatingthat the locate and/or marking operation is complete; and B) based onthe input indicating that the locate and/or marking operation iscomplete, electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing atleast one of the following so as to provide information concerning thelocate and/or marking operation to at least one party associated withproviding at least one locate request relating to the locate and/ormarking operation: (a) a virtual white line image indicating the digarea; (b) an electronic copy of a completed locate request ticket; (c)an electronic manifest image showing details of the locate and/ormarking operation; and (d) an electronic representation of the locateand/or marking operation.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to an apparatusfor providing information regarding a locate and/or marking operationcomprising detecting and/or marking, in response to at least one locaterequest ticket, a presence or an absence of at least one undergroundfacility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig areais planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities.The apparatus comprises a communication interface; a memory to storeprocessor-executable instructions; and a processing unit communicativelycoupled to the communication interface and the memory. Upon execution ofthe processor-executable instructions by the processing unit, theprocessing unit electronically receives, via the communicationinterface, first user input relating to the dig area; based on the firstuser input, renders a digital virtual white line image including atleast one dig area indicator to provide at least one indication of thedig area with respect to a geographic area; controls the communicationinterface and/or the memory to electronically transmit and/orelectronically store information relating to the digital virtual whiteline image so as to facilitate the locate and/or marking operation;further controls the communication interface to electronically receivesecond user input regarding a preferred notification type and/or apreferred notification communication method for at least onenotification indicating a status and/or providing information relatingto the performance of the locate and/or marking operation; generates theat least one notification based at least in part on the preferrednotification type and/or the preferred notification communicationmethod; and further controls the communication interface and/or thememory to electronically transmit and/or electronically store the atleast one notification so as to inform at least one party associatedwith providing at least one locate request relating to the locate and/ormarking operation of the status and/or performance of the locate and/ormarking operation.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to at least onecomputer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executedon at least one processing unit, perform a method for providinginformation regarding a locate and/or marking operation comprisingdetecting and/or marking, in response to at least one locate requestticket, a presence or an absence of at least one underground facilitywithin a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is plannedto be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities. The methodcomprises A) electronically receiving first user input relating to thedig area; B) based on the first user input, rendering a digital virtualwhite line image including at least one dig area indicator to provide atleast one indication of the dig area with respect to a geographic area;C) electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing informationrelating to the digital virtual white line image so as to facilitate thelocate and/or marking operation; D) electronically receiving second userinput regarding a preferred notification type and/or a preferrednotification communication method for at least one notificationindicating a status and/or providing information relating to theperformance of the locate and/or marking operation; E) generating the atleast one notification based at least in part on the preferrednotification type and/or the preferred notification communicationmethod; and F) electronically transmitting and/or electronically storingthe at least one notification so as to inform at least one partyassociated with providing at least one locate request relating to thelocate and/or marking operation of the status and/or performance of thelocate and/or marking operation.

A further embodiment of the present invention is directed to a methodfor providing information regarding a locate and/or marking operationcomprising detecting and/or marking, in response to at least one locaterequest ticket, a presence or an absence of at least one undergroundfacility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig areais planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities.The method comprises A) electronically receiving first user inputrelating to the dig area; B) based on the first user input, rendering adigital virtual white line image including at least one dig areaindicator to provide at least one indication of the dig area withrespect to a geographic area; C) electronically transmitting and/orelectronically storing information relating to the digital virtual whiteline image so as to facilitate the locate and/or marking operation; D)electronically receiving second user input regarding a preferrednotification type and/or a preferred notification communication methodfor at least one notification indicating a status and/or providinginformation relating to the performance of the locate and/or markingoperation; E) generating the at least one notification based at least inpart on the preferred notification type and/or the preferrednotification communication method; and F) electronically transmittingand/or electronically storing the at least one notification so as toinform at least one party associated with providing at least one locaterequest relating to the locate and/or marking operation of the statusand/or performance of the locate and/or marking operation.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to an apparatusfor providing information regarding a locate and/or marking operationcomprising detecting and/or marking, in response to at least one locaterequest ticket, a presence or an absence of at least one undergroundfacility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig areais planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities.The apparatus comprises a communication interface; a memory to storeprocessor-executable instructions; and a processing unit communicativelycoupled to the communication interface and the memory. Upon execution ofthe processor-executable instructions by the processing unit, theprocessing unit electronically receives a locate request via thecommunication interface; based on the locate request, generates the atleast one locate request ticket; controls the communication interfaceand/or the memory to electronically transmit and/or electronically storethe locate request ticket so as to initiate the locate and/or markingoperation; further controls the communication interface toelectronically receive user input regarding a preferred notificationtype and/or a preferred notification communication method for at leastone notification indicating a status and/or providing informationrelating to the performance of the locate and/or marking operation;generates the at least one notification based at least in part on thepreferred notification type and/or the preferred notificationcommunication method; and further controls the communication interfaceand/or the memory to electronically transmit and/or electronically storethe at least one notification so as to inform at least one partyassociated with providing at least one locate request relating to thelocate and/or marking operation of the status and/or performance of thelocate and/or marking operation.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to at least onecomputer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, when executedon at least one processing unit, perform a method for providinginformation regarding a locate and/or marking operation comprisingdetecting and/or marking, in response to at least one locate requestticket, a presence or an absence of at least one underground facilitywithin a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is plannedto be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities. The methodcomprises A) electronically receiving a locate request; B) based on thelocate request, generating the at least one locate request ticket; C)electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing the locaterequest ticket so as to initiate the locate and/or marking operation; D)electronically receiving user input regarding a preferred notificationtype and/or a preferred notification communication method for at leastone notification indicating a status and/or providing informationrelating to the performance of the locate and/or marking operation; E)generating the at least one notification based at least in part on thepreferred notification type and/or the preferred notificationcommunication method; and F) electronically transmitting and/orelectronically storing the at least one notification so as to inform atleast one party associated with providing at least one locate requestrelating to the locate and/or marking operation of the status and/orperformance of the locate and/or marking operation.

A further embodiment of the present invention is directed to a methodfor providing information regarding a locate and/or marking operationcomprising detecting and/or marking, in response to at least one locaterequest ticket, a presence or an absence of at least one undergroundfacility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig areais planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities.The method comprises A) electronically receiving a locate request; B)based on the locate request, generating the at least one locate requestticket; C) electronically transmitting and/or electronically storing thelocate request ticket so as to initiate the locate and/or markingoperation; D) electronically receiving user input regarding a preferrednotification type and/or a preferred notification communication methodfor at least one notification indicating a status and/or providinginformation relating to the performance of the locate and/or markingoperation; E) generating the at least one notification based at least inpart on the preferred notification type and/or the preferrednotification communication method; and F) electronically transmittingand/or electronically storing the at least one notification so as toinform at least one party associated with providing at least one locaterequest relating to the locate and/or marking operation of the statusand/or performance of the locate and/or marking operation.

Another embodiment of the present invention is directed to a method forproviding information regarding a locate and/or marking operationcomprising detecting and/or marking, in response to at least one locaterequest ticket, a presence or an absence of at least one undergroundfacility within a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig areais planned to be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities.The method comprises A) electronically receiving user input regarding atleast one notification type and/or at least one notificationcommunication method for at least one notification indicating a statusand/or providing information relating to the performance of the locateand/or marking operation; B) generating the at least one notificationbased at least in part on the at least one notification type and/or theat least one notification communication method; and C) electronicallytransmitting and/or electronically storing the at least one notificationso as to inform at least one party associated with providing at leastone locate request relating to the locate and/or marking operation ofthe status and/or performance of the locate and/or marking operation.According to some implementations, the at least one notification typeand/or the at least one notification communication method may bemandated by at least one regulation and/or required by at least onecontract.

For purposes of the present disclosure, the term “dig area” refers to aspecified area of a work site within which there is a plan to disturbthe ground (e.g., excavate, dig holes and/or trenches, bore, etc.), andbeyond which there is no plan to excavate in the immediate surroundings.Thus, the metes and bounds of a dig area are intended to providespecificity as to where some disturbance to the ground is planned at agiven work site. It should be appreciated that a given work site mayinclude multiple dig areas.

The term “facility” refers to one or more lines, cables, fibers,conduits, transmitters, receivers, or other physical objects orstructures capable of or used for carrying, transmitting, receiving,storing, and providing utilities, energy, data, substances, and/orservices, and/or any combination thereof. The term “undergroundfacility” means any facility beneath the surface of the ground. Examplesof facilities include, but are not limited to, oil, gas, water, sewer,power, telephone, data transmission, cable television (TV), and/orinternet services.

The term “locate device” refers to any apparatus and/or device fordetecting and/or inferring the presence or absence of any facility,including without limitation, any underground facility. In variousexamples, a locate device may include both a locate transmitter and alocate receiver (which in some instances may also be referred tocollectively as a “locate instrument set,” or simply “locate set”).

The term “marking device” refers to any apparatus, mechanism, or otherdevice that employs a marking dispenser for causing a marking materialand/or marking object to be dispensed, or any apparatus, mechanism, orother device for electronically indicating (e.g., logging in memory) alocation, such as a location of an underground facility.

The term “locate mark” means any mark, sign, and/or object employed toindicate the presence or absence of any underground facility. Examplesof locate marks may include, but are not limited to, marks made withmarking materials, marking objects, global positioning or otherinformation, and/or any other means. Locate marks may be represented inany form including, without limitation, physical, visible, electronic,and/or any combination thereof.

The terms “locate and marking operation,” “locate operation,” and“locate” generally are used interchangeably and refer to any activity todetect, infer, and/or mark the presence or absence of an undergroundfacility. In some contexts, the term “locate operation” is used to morespecifically refer to detection of one or more underground facilities,and the term “marking operation” is used to more specifically refer tousing a marking material and/or one or more marking objects to mark apresence or an absence of one or more underground facilities. The term“locate technician” refers to an individual performing a locateoperation. A locate and marking operation often is specified inconnection with a dig area, at least a portion of which may be excavatedor otherwise disturbed during excavation activities.

The term “user” refers to an individual utilizing a locate device and/ora marking device and may include, but is not limited to, land surveyors,locate technicians, and support personnel.

The terms “locate request,” “excavation notice,” and “work order” areused herein interchangeably to refer to any communication to request alocate and marking operation. The term “locate request ticket” (orsimply “ticket”) refers to any communication or instruction to perform alocate operation. A ticket might specify, for example, the address ordescription of a dig area to be marked, the day and/or time that the digarea is to be marked, and/or whether the user is to mark the excavationarea for certain gas, water, sewer, power, telephone, cable television,and/or some other underground facility.

The following U.S. published applications are hereby incorporated hereinby reference:

U.S. publication no. 2008-0228294-A1, published Sep. 18, 2008, filedMar. 13, 2007, and entitled “Marking System and Method With Locationand/or Time Tracking;”

U.S. publication no. 2008-0245299-A1, published Oct. 9, 2008, filed Apr.4, 2007, and entitled “Marking System and Method;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0013928-A1, published Jan. 15, 2009, filedSep. 24, 2008, and entitled “Marking System and Method;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0202101-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedFeb. 12, 2008, and entitled “Electronic Manifest of Underground FacilityLocate Marks;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0202110-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedSep. 11, 2008, and entitled “Electronic Manifest of Underground FacilityLocate Marks;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0201311-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedJan. 30, 2009, and entitled “Electronic Manifest of Underground FacilityLocate Marks;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0202111-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedJan. 30, 2009, and entitled “Electronic Manifest of Underground FacilityLocate Marks;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0204625-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedFeb. 5, 2009, and entitled “Electronic Manifest of Underground FacilityLocate Operation;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0204466-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedSep. 4, 2008, and entitled “Ticket Approval System For and Method ofPerforming Quality Control In Field Service Applications;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0207019-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filedApr. 30, 2009, and entitled “Ticket Approval System For and Method ofPerforming Quality Control In Field Service Applications;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0210284-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filedApr. 30, 2009, and entitled “Ticket Approval System For and Method ofPerforming Quality Control In Field Service Applications;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0210297-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filedApr. 30, 2009, and entitled “Ticket Approval System For and Method ofPerforming Quality Control In Field Service Applications;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0210298-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filedApr. 30, 2009, and entitled “Ticket Approval System For and Method ofPerforming Quality Control In Field Service Applications;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0210285-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filedApr. 30, 2009, and entitled “Ticket Approval System For and Method ofPerforming Quality Control In Field Service Applications;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0204238-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedFeb. 2, 2009, and entitled “Electronically Controlled Marking Apparatusand Methods;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0208642-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filedFeb. 2, 2009, and entitled “Marking Apparatus and Methods For Creatingan Electronic Record of Marking Operations;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0210098-A1, published Aug. 20, 2009, filedFeb. 2, 2009, and entitled “Marking Apparatus and Methods For Creatingan Electronic Record of Marking Apparatus Operations;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0201178-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedFeb. 2, 2009, and entitled “Methods For Evaluating Operation of MarkingApparatus;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0202112-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedFeb. 11, 2009, and entitled “Searchable Electronic Records ofUnderground Facility Locate Marking Operations;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0204614-A1, published Aug. 13, 2009, filedFeb. 11, 2009, and entitled “Searchable Electronic Records ofUnderground Facility Locate Marking Operations;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0238414-A1, published Sep. 24, 2009, filedMar. 18, 2008, and entitled “Virtual White Lines for Delimiting PlannedExcavation Sites;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0241045-A1, published Sep. 24, 2009, filedSep. 26, 2008, and entitled “Virtual White Lines for Delimiting PlannedExcavation Sites;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0238415-A1, published Sep. 24, 2009, filedSep. 26, 2008, and entitled “Virtual White Lines for Delimiting PlannedExcavation Sites;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0241046-A1, published Sep. 24, 2009, filedJan. 16, 2009, and entitled “Virtual White Lines for Delimiting PlannedExcavation Sites;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0238416-A1, published Sep. 24, 2009, filedJan. 16, 2009, and entitled “Virtual White Lines for Delimiting PlannedExcavation Sites;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0237408-A1, published Sep. 24, 2009, filedJan. 16, 2009, and entitled “Virtual White Lines for Delimiting PlannedExcavation Sites;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0238417-A1, published Sep. 24, 2009, filedFeb. 6, 2009, and entitled “Virtual White Lines for Indicating PlannedExcavation Sites on Electronic Images;”

U.S. publication no. 2009-0327024-A1, published Dec. 31, 2009, filedJun. 26, 2009, and entitled “Methods and Apparatus for QualityAssessment of a Field Service Operation;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0010862-A1, published Jan. 14, 2010, filedAug. 7, 2009, and entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Quality Assessmentof a Field Service Operation Based on Geographic Location;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0010863-A1, published Jan. 14, 2010, filedAug. 7, 2009, and entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Quality Assessmentof a Field Service Operation Based on Multiple Scoring Categories;”

U.S. publication no. 2010-0010882-A1, published Jan. 14, 2010, filedAug. 7, 2009, and entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Quality Assessmentof a Field Service Operation Based on Dynamic Assessment Parameters;”and

U.S. publication no. 2010-0010883-A1, published Jan. 14, 2010, filedAug. 7, 2009, and entitled “Methods and Apparatus for Facilitating aQuality Assessment of a Field Service Operation Based on MultipleQuality Assessment Criteria.”

It should be appreciated that all combinations of the foregoing conceptsand additional concepts discussed in greater detail below (provided suchconcepts are not mutually inconsistent) are contemplated as being partof the inventive subject matter disclosed herein. In particular, allcombinations of claimed subject matter appearing at the end of thisdisclosure are contemplated as being part of the inventive subjectmatter disclosed herein. It should also be appreciated that terminologyexplicitly employed herein that also may appear in any disclosureincorporated by reference should be accorded a meaning most consistentwith the particular concepts disclosed herein.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The drawings are not necessarily to scale, emphasis instead generallybeing placed upon illustrating the principles of the invention.

FIG. 1 illustrates an example of an information exchange process flowthat includes a link between excavators and locate personnel, accordingto one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 2 illustrates a functional block diagram of an example of aninformed excavator system for exchanging information between excavatorsand other entities associated with locate operations, according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary excavator device according to one aspectof the present invention, which supports a “virtual white line” (VWL)application to display an image of a geographic area including a digarea and facilitate adding virtual white lines to the displayed image toindicate the dig area;

FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary locate personnel device according to oneaspect of the present invention, which supports an “electronic manifest”(EM) application to display an image of a geographic area including adig area and facilitate adding one or more indicators to the displayedimage representing one or more physical locate marks applied to the digarea to indicate a presence or an absence of one or more undergroundfacilities;

FIG. 5 illustrates various elements of an informed excavator applicationfor providing information regarding the status of locate operations,according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 6 illustrates a flow diagram of an exemplary method of providinginformation regarding the status of locate operations, according to oneembodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 7 illustrates a flow diagram of an exemplary method of generatinglocate request tickets and performing locate operations in response tosuch tickets, which method employs aspects of the method illustrated inFIG. 6 for providing information regarding the status of locateoperations, according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 8 illustrates a flow diagram of an exemplary method of providinginformation regarding the status of locate operations and generating avirtual white lines image as part of a locate request submission,according to one embodiment of the present invention;

FIG. 9 illustrates an exemplary computing device (e.g., a computer) thatis configured to execute an excavator information application, accordingto one embodiment of the present invention; and

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary graphical user interface that may beused in connection with providing inputs to the excavator informationapplication, according to one embodiment of the present invention.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Following below are more detailed descriptions of various conceptsrelated to, and embodiments of, inventive systems, methods and apparatusfor providing an information exchange process between excavators andother entities associated with underground facility locate operations.In various aspects, these methods, apparatus, and systems providecommunication infrastructure and mechanisms by which informationexchange regarding locate and/or marking operations, such as statusinformation, may be reported in real-time and/or other times toexcavators or other parties who originate locate requests.

For purposes of illustrating exemplary embodiments, in the more detaileddiscussion below an exemplary requesting party is taken to be anexcavator, and the systems, methods and apparatus discussed herein aresometimes referred to as “informed excavator” systems, methods andapparatus. However, it should be appreciated that any reference to an“excavator” or “informed excavator” is merely exemplary, as the conceptsdiscussed herein are contemplated as applying more generally to variousparties who may request a locate and/or marking operation, examples ofwhich parties may include, but are not limited to, property owners(e.g., home owners, business owners), facility owners, regulatoryauthorities, damage investigators, and the like. More generally, itshould be appreciated that various concepts introduced above anddiscussed in greater detail below may be implemented in any of numerousways, as the disclosed concepts are not limited to any particular mannerof implementation. Examples of specific implementations and applicationsare provided primarily for illustrative purposes.

While currently a simple conventional communication process may existbetween requesting parties and one-call centers and, likewise, acommunication process may exist between one-call centers and locateparties, an aspect of the informed excavator systems, methods andapparatus disclosed herein is that they provide an information exchangeprocess among requesting parties, one-call centers and locate parties(independent locate service providers, and/or facility owners whoperform their own locate and/or marking operations) which is otherwisenot present in current processes with respect to locate operations.Another aspect of the informed excavator system and associated methodsof the present disclosure is that it provides improved informationexchange between excavators and locate service providers.

Yet another aspect of the informed excavator system and associatedmethods of the present disclosure is that it provides better ways ofcommunicating the status of locate operations to excavators in a timelymanner, which may significantly reduce, and preferably entirelyeliminate, the uncertainty as to whether the locate operation iscomplete.

Still another aspect of the informed excavator system and associatedmethods of the present disclosure is that it provides information to theexcavator about the locate operation prior to beginning the excavationactivities. This substantially improves the confidence of the excavatorthat the locate operation has been performed satisfactorily, which maysignificantly reduce, and preferably entirely eliminate, the risk ofdamage to underground facilities.

Still another aspect of the informed excavator system and associatedmethods of the present disclosure is that it provides improved projectplanning, decision making, management, and/or tracking with respect tolocate operations.

Referring to FIG. 1, an example of information exchange process flow 100that includes a link between excavators and locate personnel ispresented. For example, information exchange process flow 100 mayinclude a communications loop among one or more excavation companies 110and their associated excavators 114, one or more one-call centers 120,and one or more locate parties 130 and their associated locate personnel134.

Excavation companies, such as excavation companies 110, may be anycompanies that provide excavation services for any purpose, such as, butnot limited to, excavation services related to the construction industryand excavation services related to the installation and/or maintenanceof underground facilities. Excavators 114 may be any personnelassociated with excavation companies 110, such as, but not limited to,individuals who are requesting and/or performing the excavationoperations. In particular, excavators 114 generate locate requests(i.e., tickets), which may be processed via a certain one-call center120. A ticket may be any communication or instruction to perform alocate operation at a certain dig area, which is any specifiedgeographic area within which excavation may occur.

One-call centers, such as one-call centers 120, may be anyorganizations, entities, and/or systems that receive, process, and/ortransmit locate requests. The locate request (or ticket) may be anycommunication or instruction to perform a locate operation. One-callcenters are generally owned, controlled, or funded by undergroundfacility owners, such as telephone companies, cable television multiplesystem operators, electric utilities, gas utilities, or others. One-callcenter operations may be managed by a non-profit entity or outsourced toa for-profit firm. Excavators, such as excavators 114, are required tonotify one-call centers in advance of their excavation activities andidentify through the locate request the dig area where individualexcavating activities will be performed. Locate requests may includeinformation supplied by the excavator to the one-call center regardingthe specific geographic location of the dig area, date, time, purpose ofexcavation, and so on. The locate request, in turn, requires activityfrom an underground facility owner to perform a locate operation in thespecified dig area.

Locate parties/entities, such as locate parties 130, may be any partiesthat provide locate services. Multiple locate personnel 134 may beassociated with each locate party 130. Locate personnel 134 may be, forexample, locate technicians and/or quality control technicians that, forexample, perform locate operations.

While a communication process may exist between excavation companies andone-call centers and also may exist between one-call centers and locateparties in current processes, an aspect of the information exchangeprocess flow 100 of the present disclosure is that it further includes acommunications link between excavation companies and locate parties,which is otherwise not present in current processes for generating andprocessing locate requests. In this way, the communications loop among,for example, excavation companies 110, one-call centers 120, and locateparties 130 is closed. As a result, a free flow of information withrespect to information about locate operations may occur. More detailsof an example of a system for facilitating a closed loop communicationsflow, such as information exchange process flow 100, with respect tolocate operations are described with reference to FIGS. 2 through 7.

Referring to FIG. 2, a functional block diagram of an example of aninformed excavator system 200 for exchanging information betweenexcavators and other entities associated with locate operations ispresented. In particular, informed excavator system 200 is suitable forfacilitating a flow of information among excavation companies, one-callcenters, and locate parties in order to provide to the originatingexcavators notification of the status of locate operations and any otheruseful information about locate operations.

Informed excavator system 200 may include, but is not limited to, theone or more one-call centers 120 of FIG. 1, an image server 210 that maybe used by the one or more excavators 114, one or more onsite computers220 that may be used by locate personnel 134 and/or excavators 114,excavator devices 212, locate personnel devices 218, and a centralserver 222. A network 224 provides the communication link between anyand/or among all entities of informed excavator system 200. For example,network 224 provides the communication network by which information maybe exchanged among one-call centers 120, image server 210, centralserver 222, onsite computers 220, excavator devices 212 and locatepersonnel devices 218. Network 224 may be, for example, any local areanetwork (LAN) and/or wide area network (WAN) for connecting to theInternet.

In order to connect to network 224, each entity of informed excavatorsystem 200 includes a communication interface (not shown). For example,the respective communication interfaces of one-call centers 120, imageserver 210, central server 222, and onsite computers 220, as well asexcavator and locate personnel devices, may be any wired and/or wirelesscommunication interface by which information may be exchanged betweenany entities of informed excavator system 200. Examples of wiredcommunication interfaces may include, but are not limited to, USB ports,RS232 connectors, RJ45 connectors, Ethernet, and any combinationsthereof. Examples of wireless communication interfaces may include, butare not limited to, an Intranet connection, Internet, Bluetooth®technology, Wi-Fi, Wi-Max, IEEE 802.11 technology, radio frequency (RF),Infrared Data Association (IrDA) compatible protocols, Local AreaNetworks (LAN), Wide Area Networks (WAN), Shared Wireless AccessProtocol (SWAP), any combinations thereof, and other types of wirelessnetworking protocols.

In exemplary implementations, each entity of the informed excavatorsystem 200 shown in FIG. 2 also generally includes a memory (e.g., oneor more computer-readable media) to store processor-executableinstructions as well as other data. Each entity also includes one ormore processing units coupled to the communication interface and thememory, wherein upon execution of the processor-executable instructionsby the processing unit, the processing unit performs a variety offunctions as set forth in greater detail below. Generally speaking, manyof the various functionalities described herein and attributed tovarious entities of the informed excavator system 200 shown in FIG. 2may be encoded as processor-executable instructions stored in/on one ormore computer readable media.

Informed excavator system 200 is not limited to the types and numbers ofentities that are shown in FIG. 2. Any types and numbers of entitiesthat may be useful in underground facilities locate applications may beincluded in informed excavator system 200.

Image server 210 may be any application server, such as a webapplication server and/or web portal, by which excavators 114, one-callcenter 120, and locate parties and their personnel may access certaintools with respect to submitting and/or processing locate requests (ortickets) and/or for processing notifications about locate operations,including access to various images relating to the locate operations andexcavation activities. Application server 210 may be accessed byexcavators 114 via any networked computing device (not shown).

Central server 222 may be a centralized computer, such as a centralserver of, for example, a certain locate party 130 of FIG. 1, which isthe underground facility locate service provider. Central server 222 maybe utilized for managing the overall operations of informed excavatorsystem 200. When authorized, applications and/or information that resideon central server 222 may be accessible by any other entities ofinformed excavator system 200 via network 224. For example, residing oncentral server 222 may be a workforce management application 254, aticket approval application 256, and a notification application(“informed excavator application) 258.

Each onsite computer 220 may be any computer, such as, but not limitedto, a computer that is present in the vehicle that is being used by thefield service personnel. Each onsite computer 220 may be, for example,any computing device, such as portable computer, a personal computer, atablet device, a PDA, a cellular radiotelephone, a mobile computingdevice, a touch-screen device, a touchpad device, or generally anydevice including, or connected to, a processor and a user interface.Preferably, onsite computer 220 is a portable computing device, such aslaptop computer or tablet device. Residing on onsite computer 220 may becertain tools, such as, but not limited to, a VWL viewer, an electronicmanifest (EM) application, and a workforce management client.

VWL applications 232 and 234, which may be accessed via the image server210 and downloaded for use on an onsite computer 220, an excavatordevice 212 and/or a one-call center 120, is a tool for electronicallydelimiting the particular geographic location of the proposed excavationin order to provide a substantially permanent and reproducible record ofthe planned excavation. For example, VWL application 232 (and similarlyVWL application 234) may be a drawing application, which, in excavationapplications, may be used by the excavator 114 as a dig area markingtool. More specifically, VWL application 232 may be used by theexcavator 114 to add markings to an input image to graphically delimit adig area. For example, VWL application 232 may be used to superimposeover or otherwise display “virtual white lines” on an input image (e.g.,an aerial image) that may be received from, for example, the imageserver 210. As used herein, the virtual white lines may include lines,drawing shapes, shades, points, symbols, coordinates, data sets, orother indicators to delimit on an input image the dig area in whichexcavation is to occur. FIG. 3 illustrates an exemplary excavator device212 according to one aspect of the present invention, which supports VWLapplication 232 to display an image of a geographic area including a digarea and facilitate adding virtual white lines 260 to the displayedimage to provide a marked-up VWL image 238 on which is indicated the digarea.

Additionally, VWL application 232 may be the application by whichexcavators 114 may submit locate requests 236 to one-call centers 120,wherein the locate requests 236 may include the VWL image(s) 238 thatare generated by excavators 114. Alternatively, excavators 114 maysubmit locate requests without virtual white line marked-up images toone-call centers 120, and in turn the one-call centers 120 may use theinformation in the locate request submitted by the excavator to in turngenerate a virtual white line marked-up image 238, via VWL application234, that is then forwarded to one or more locate parties 130 as locaterequest 236.

A project component of VWL applications 232 or 234 allows excavators 114or a one-call center 120 to generate a series of VWL images that may beassociated with multiple phases of a “project ticket,” meaning a locaterequest for an ongoing project that requires multiple locate operationsover, for example, a span of several days. An example of such a projectmay be excavation to lay fiber optics along a 20 mile stretch of ahighway. With respect to locate operations, the project ticket may begenerated that specifies certain subsections to be located and atimetable. Further to the example, the project component of the VWLapplication may allow the excavator 114 or the one-call center 120 togenerate a first VWL image for mile 1 of 20, a second VWL image for mile2 of 20, a third VWL image for mile 3 of 20, a fourth VWL image for mile4 of 20, and so on. Each image of the series may be named and/or labeledin a manner that allows the VWL application to read in the series of VWLimages in the correct order and geographic position and then overlay allof the VWL images to show the full scope of the locate operation withrespect to the project ticket.

Hereafter, the term “VWL image” means a single VWL image of a locaterequest (or ticket) and/or a series of VWL images of a project ticket.

In one embodiment of the informed excavator system 200 shown in FIG. 2,an informed excavator application 258, which may reside on the centralserver 222, provides for the communication of information relating tothe status of one or more locate operations. As discussed in greaterdetail below, such status information may be communicated in real timeduring various phases of a given locate operation, or at some pointafter the completion of a locate operation, to excavators, one-callcenters, or other parties associated with the locate operation. In someexemplary implementations, an excavator may provide profile informationregarding preferences in receiving notifications of the statusinformation, in response to which one or more notifications may beautomatically provided to the excavator.

For example, an excavator 114 may login to the informed excavatorapplication 258 and specify (e.g., via a menu) the types ofnotifications that he/she wishes to receive and the methods by whichnotifications may be automatically received. For each excavator 114, theselected types and methods of notification may be saved in a respective“excavator profile” of informed excavator application 258. In this case,the specified preferences may be applied, by default, to all locaterequests originated by that excavator. However, notification preferencesmay also be established in connection with individual locate operationsor the like. For example, the excavator may be prompted to separatelyspecify his or her preferences for notifications in connection with eachrequested locate operation. An excavator may override globallyestablished notification preferences by specifying notificationpreferences for a particular locate operation without affecting thepreferences set forth in the excavator profile.

Examples of types of notifications may include, but are not limited to,the following:

-   -   “Locate technician dispatched to dig area,” which means that the        locate technician is in route to the dig area. For example, the        notification that is transmitted to the originating excavator        114 may be—“For Ticket No. 2645134, the locate technician Jack        Stewart, telephone no. 622-222-2222, has been dispatched to dig        area on Friday, Dec. 5, 2008 at 9:30 AM.”    -   Such a notification may include a map or a link to a map that        shows the locate technician's current location. The locate        technician's location may be based on location information        derived from a global positioning system (GPS) device or other        positioning system device associated with the locate technician.        For example, the locate technician's location may be based on        coordinates received from a GPS-enabled vehicle, computer, or        personal digital assistant (PDA) in proximity to the locate        technician while traveling between dig areas and/or during        locate operations. The workforce management application 254        described in connection with FIG. 2 may receive and manage such        location information.    -   “Locate technician on site at dig area,” which means that locate        technician has arrived at the dig area. For example, the        notification that is transmitted to the originating excavator        114 may be—“For Ticket No. 2645134, the locate technician is on        site at dig area on Friday, Dec. 5, 2008 at 10:05 AM.”    -   “Ticket marked,” which means that locate technician has        completed the locate operation. However, a ticket approval        process may be pending. For example, the notification that is        transmitted to the originating excavator 114 may be—“Ticket No.        2645134 is marked on Friday, Dec. 5, 2008 at 11:46 AM and is        pending approval.”    -   “Ticket approved,” which means that the locate operation        associated with the ticket has been certified by supervisors        and/or quality control personnel of locate parties 130 to meet a        certain quality standard. The certification process may be via        ticket approval application 224 of central server 212. For        example, the notification that is transmitted to the originating        excavator 114 may be—“Ticket No. 2645134 is approved on Friday,        Dec. 5, 2008 at 12:35 PM.” Since approval of the ticket may be        the last step of the locate process, such a notification may        also include a positive indication that the locate operation is        complete and/or that the excavator may proceed with excavation        activities.    -   “Locate details,” which means that detailed information about        the locate operation may be transmitted to excavators 114, such        as information generated by locate personnel 134 using EM        application 232 of onsite computers 214.    -   “Locate operation delayed,” which means that the locate        operation has been delayed for some reason (e.g., rain).    -   “Ticket expired” or “Ticket about to expire,” which means that        the specified time frame for the locate operation has or is        about to expire without the locate operation having been        completed.    -   “Locate Request Submitted,” which means that the locate request        has been submitted to the one-call center. This notification may        include, for example, the name of the person who originated the        locate request and/or the locate party or parties who will be        responsible for performing the locate operation.

The types of notifications listed above are merely exemplary, and itshould be appreciated that many additional types of notifications arepossible. For example, notifications may have a high degree ofspecificity. Rather than simply electing to be notified when a locatetechnician is on-site, a user may elect to be notified when the locatetechnician has turned on his marking device, begun marking, changedpaint colors, etc. A notification can also relate to a planned event sothat, for example, an excavator may be informed when the locatetechnician plans to be on-site so that the excavator can meet with thelocate technician at the specified time.

Examples of methods by which notifications may be automatically receivedby excavators 114 may include, but are not limited to, email, SMS textmessage, instant message, phone call (such as from an interactive voiceresponse (IVR) system), pager message, and rich site summary (RSS) feed,which is a family of Web feed formats used to publish frequently updatedworks, such as blog entries, news headlines, audio, and video, in astandardized format. The notifications may optionally include image(s)or video. For example, an image showing details of the completed locateand/or marking activities may be transmitted to an excavator 114 as anattachment to an email or text message.

Alternatively, an authorized excavator 114 may query the status ofcertain locate requests by, for example, accessing a secure web site.For example, text-based notifications (e.g., emails or SMS textmessages) received by excavators 114 may include a link or reference toa web site, such as one maintained by a locate service provider, thatincludes information on the status of a locate request and/or locateoperation. By accessing the web site, such as by clicking on thehyperlink in an email, the excavator 114 may view periodically updated,recent, and/or real-time information on the status of a locate requestand/or locate operation.

Such a web site may display an image showing details of a locateoperation and/or a corresponding electronic representation of the locateoperation. Further, such a web site may display aggregate information,such that an excavator 114 can view information supplied by multiplelocate technicians or parties and/or information relating to a multiplesubmitted locate requests or multiple dig areas. According to oneillustrative example, an excavator 114 may receive an email with anotification that a locate party has completed its locate activities,along with a link to a web site that includes an image and/or electronicrepresentation showing details of the locate activities completed bythat locate party as well as the locate activities previously completedby other locate parties.

In some instances, it may be desirable for a single entity or a limitednumber of entities to retain control over the status or otherinformation relating to a locate operation. For example, it may bedesirable for the entity that provides access to an electronic manifest(EM) creation application (e.g., the EM application 246) and has initialcontrol of one or more created EM images (e.g., EM images 248) to retaincontrol of such images. One potential benefit of retaining control ofthe EM image(s) once created is avoiding unauthorized edits to orunauthorized use of the image(s).

According to one example, a “controlling” entity that provides access toan EM creation application (e.g., the EM application 246) retainscontrol of one or more created images, but allows other entities toaccess the images in some instances in a limited manner. For example,the controlling entity may provide a link (e.g., a hyperlink) to one ormore EM images (e.g., via an e-mail) or otherwise provide an interfaceallowing the EM image(s) to be accessed (e.g., via a customized orproprietary image viewing application). Such a link may have apre-established expiration date, such that clicking on the link will notaccess the EM image(s)/web page after the specified expiration date. Tomaintain the integrity of the EM image(s), the application providingaccess to the EM image(s) may prohibit copying of, saving of, or writingto the images. For example, the EM image may be viewable only using acorresponding image file viewer that allows limited access to the EMimage. In particular, copy, save and/or write access to the EM image maybe prohibited. In these and other respects discussed below, one or moreEM image files may be stored and/or transmitted as “limited accessfiles.”

The EM image may, for example, be transmitted to a party associated withthe at least one underground facility with the corresponding image fileviewer so that the party may view the EM image. For example, anexecutable file comprising the EM image and image file viewer may betransmitted (e.g., a customized image viewer may be transmitted to oneor more onsite computers). Alternatively, the image file viewer may bedownloaded/installed separately, e.g., from a web site of thecontrolling entity, or the EM image may be viewed using an image fileviewer stored and executed on a server of the controlling entity.

In one implementation, the controlling entity may allow access to the EMimage(s) only when a certain condition or conditions are met. Forexample, the controlling entity may require a password protected log-inprocedure for access to the EM image(s). In particular, the image fileviewer may require a password to permit access to the EM image. Asanother example, the controlling entity may require acceptance ofcertain terms and/or conditions to permit access to the EM image.According to one implementation, the image file viewer may be programmedto require an indication of acceptance of terms and/or conditions priorto permitting access to the EM image. According to yet another example,the controlling entity may charge a fee for permitting a third party toaccess one or more EM images, such as a per-transaction fee or asubscription fee.

To prevent access to the EM image unless or until a condition orconditions are met, the EM image may be encrypted and require decryptionto be readable. A corresponding image file viewer may be required todecrypt the EM image. The EM image and/or the corresponding image fileviewer may also or alternatively be proprietary, and may have a formatspecific to the controlling entity. The image file viewer may optionallybe programmed to determine whether an updated version of the image fileviewer is available. For example, the image file viewer may interrogateinformation associated with the EM image to determine a correspondingversion of the image file viewer. If an updated version is found, theviewer may prompt the user to upgrade the application or otherwisefacilitate an update.

The EM image may be transmitted in a variety of different formats. Forexample, the EM image may be transmitted as an image including locatemark indicators thereon. Alternatively, the EM image may be transmittedas a base image with associated metadata and/or a separate file (e.g.,an XML file) including information that allows the locate markindicators to be rendered on or in connection with the base image. Suchinformation may comprise geographic coordinates specifying the locatemark indicators to be displayed on the base image. The informationincluded in the metadata and/or separate file may also specify accesspermissions for the locate mark indicators. For example, in the casewhere the information that allows locate mark indicators to be renderedrelates to a plurality of dig sites, locate mark information for one ormore dig sites may have restricted access such that the correspondinglocate mark indicators are not rendered unless certain access conditionsare met.

While the status information described above as being stored and/ortransmitted as a “limited access file” corresponds to one or more EMimages, the same principles may be applied to other types of image-basedor non-image files to limit the access to the status information.

In some implementations, an acknowledgement is required from therecipient of a positive response notification that he or she hasreceived and/or reviewed the information included in the notification.Thus, a return receipt may be solicited from the recipient of annotification in the form of an automatic confirmation that thenotification was opened or received, for example by an automatic returnemail or text message. A notification may also be automaticallygenerated when the notification recipient logs in to a web site orotherwise accesses information via a web site. Alternatively, arecipient-generated confirmation may be solicited. For example, therecipient may be requested to reply to a text or email with a certainword or code when a notification is received, accessed and/or reviewed.

Turning again to FIG. 2, one-call centers 120 may process locaterequests that may be submitted by excavators 114. More specifically, acertain one-call center 120 may pass locate requests to central server222 of a certain locate party 130. The locate requests may includecorresponding VWL images that are generated by excavators 114, whooriginate the locate requests. Subsequently, workforce managementapplication 254 of central server 222 may be used to process the locaterequests that are received from one-call centers 120 and dispatch thelocate requests to locate personnel 134 that are in the field. Locatepersonnel 134 are able to receive locate requests (along with any VWLimages) that are dispatched by workforce management application 222 viatheir respective onsite computers 220 or locate personnel devices 218.

Once received at a certain onsite computer or device, a certain locatepersonnel 134 may view the locate request and may view the correspondingVWL image via the VWL viewer 230. VWL viewer 230 may be any graphicalviewer application that is capable of reading and displaying the VWLimages. Alternatively, VWL images may be read into and viewed by an“electronic manifest” (EM) application 246. EM application 246 may be adrawing application, which, in underground facility locate applications,may be used by locate personnel 134 as a marking tool for documentingthe locate operation. FIG. 4 illustrates an exemplary locate personneldevice 218 according to one aspect of the present invention, whichsupports an EM application 246 to display an image of a geographic areaincluding a dig area and facilitate adding one or more indicators to thedisplayed image representing one or more physical locate marks appliedto the dig area to indicate a presence or an absence of one or moreunderground facilities, thereby forming EM image 248.

More specifically, EM application 246 may be used by locate personnel134 to add markings (one or more “locate mark indicators”) to an inputimage of a geographic area including the dig area, so as to graphicallyindicate (digitally represent in an electronic image) the work performedin the locate operation. The input image may be received from, forexample, the image server 210 that may be associated with a party thatprovides images for a fee. In some implementations, the input image maybe an aerial image 230. EM application 246 may superimpose over orotherwise display these markings on the displayed input image and savethem as, for example, an EM image 248. The markings may include lines,drawing shapes, shades, points, symbols, coordinates, data sets, orother indicators to graphically depict the work performing in the locateoperation. The EM image may then be associated with a marked ticket thatmay be transmitted to central server 222.

The resulting EM image generated by EM application 246 may show, forexample, the original virtual white lines 260 from the original VWLimage; a mark-up of one or more types of facilities, the presence orabsence of which have been determined during the locate operation, and amark-up of one or more environmental landmarks. An environmentallandmark may be any location specified by any means that is used or canbe used as a reference point for measurement or orientation. Examples ofenvironmental landmarks may include, but are not limited to, a tree, acurb, a driveway, a utility pole, a fire hydrant, a storm drain, apedestal, a water meter box, a manhole lid, a building structure, alight post, or a set of global positioning system coordinates.

Alternatively, EM application 246 may read in information about thelocate operation from a data-enabled electronic marking device 216 thatis used during the locate operation. The data-enabled electronic markingdevice may, for example, be based on the marking devices that aredescribed with reference to U.S. Patent Application publication no.2008-0245299-A1, filed Apr. 4, 2007, entitled “Marking system andmethod,” and U.S. Patent Application publication no. 2008-0228294-A1,filed Mar. 13, 2007, entitled “Marking system and method with locationand/or time tracking,” which publications are incorporated by referenceherein in their entirety.

By way of example, the marking device 216 may include certain softwarecomponents and/or applications, such as, but not limited to, a devicehealth component, a marking data algorithm 244, a map viewerapplication, ticket processing software, a speech synthesis component,and an operating mode controller that allows the marking device tooperate in multiple modes, such as, but not limited to, marking mode,landmark identification mode, solo mode, and group mode. Additionally,the marking device 216 may include certain input devices 240, such as,but not limited to, a marking material detection mechanism, a locationtracking system, a temperature sensor, a humidity sensor, a lightsensor, a compass, an inclinometer, an accelerometer, a digital camera,and an audio recorder.

Subsequently, the information from the data-enabled electronic markingdevice 216 may then be rendered into the graphical depiction of the workperformed in the locate operation. More specifically, the informationfrom the data-enabled electronic marking device may be processed by EMapplication 246 and a graphical depiction of the locate operation may besuperimposed over or otherwise displayed on the input image and saved asthe EM image 248. Again, the EM image 248 may then be associated with amarked or completed ticket 250 that may be transmitted to central server222. When excavators 114 select “Locate information” as one type ofnotification in their excavator profiles, the source of this informationmay be, for example, the marked up EM images 248.

In some locate operations, no underground facilities are determined tobe present in a designated dig area. Such locate operations aresometimes referred to as “clears.” In some implementations of theinventive concepts discussed herein, the EM application 246 maynonetheless be employed to provide an electronic record of a “clear;”more specifically, although no locate mark indicators may be added to aninput image (because there are no physical locate marks to digitallyrepresent), the EM application may be employed to provide otherinformation associated with the “clear” locate operation (e.g., atimestamp of when the locate operation was performed, an identifier fora technician or locate party performing the locate operation, a textaddress or other geographical identifier for the dig area, etc.) andthis other information may be associated with the input image (e.g., asa separate data set linked to the input image, as metadata, a combinedfile of image and non-image data, etc.) to create a searchableelectronic record that may be consulted (e.g., forward to an excavatoror other party as part of a notification) to verify that the locateoperation was indeed completed, even though no underground facilitieswere found.

Workforce management client of onsite computers 220 and/or locatepersonnel devices 218 may be a counterpart to workforce managementapplication 254 of central server 222. That is, workforce managementclient may be used to transmit the current status of locate operationsfrom onsite computers/locate personnel devices to workforce managementapplication 254. During locate operations, workforce managementapplication 254 monitors status and other information returned fromworkforce management client and/or ticket approval application 256 ofcentral server 222. Workforce management client exposes this informationto the informed excavator application 258. As discussed above, certainstatus conditions may include, but are not limited to, “ticket received”by locate party 130, “ticket dispatched,” “locate operation inprogress,” “ticket marked,” “ticket approved,” “ticket closed,” and thelike.

Ticket approval application 256 of central server 222 may be used forcollecting data associated with locate operations that are performed inthe field and by which quality control functions may be performed. Inone example, one or more approvers (not shown) are associated withticket approval application 224. The approvers may be, for example, anypersonnel associated with the underground facility locate serviceprovider, such as, but not limited to, the supervisors of locatetechnicians that are dispatched into the field, quality controlsupervisors, and/or any management personnel.

Ticket approval application 256 may use the information found in the ofEM images 248 of marked or completed tickets 250 that are returned fromonsite computers 220/locate personnel devices 218 in order to rapidlyassess the quality of the work performed in the field. This assessmentmay be by visual inspection of each marked ticket by one or moreapprovers and/or by analyzing the information of each marked ticketagainst one or more facilities maps (not shown) that correspond to thegeographic location associated with marked ticket. Ticket approvalapplication 256 may be a source of locate operation status informationthat may be monitored by informed excavator application 258.

FIG. 5 illustrates various elements of an informed excavator application258 for providing information regarding the status of locate operations,according to one aspect of the present invention. According to variousaspects, for each locate request received at central server 222,informed excavator application 258 reads in information from excavatorprofiles 512 in order to determine the preferred types and methods ofnotification entered by the originating excavator 114. During locateoperations, informed excavator application 258 monitors status and otherinformation about locate operations that may be provided by workforcemanagement application 254 and/or ticket approval application 256 viaticket monitoring component 514. In so doing, informed excavatorapplication 258 automatically generates notifications, via notificationcomponent 516, according to information in the excavator profiles 512that are associated with the originating excavators 114.

Referring to FIG. 6, a flow diagram of an example of a method 600 ofoperation of informed excavator system 200, and more particularly theinformed excavator application 256, is presented. Method 600 mayinclude, but is not limited to, the following steps, which are notlimited to any order.

At step 610, excavators 114 access informed excavator application 256and enter profile information. More specifically, excavators 114 may loginto the informed excavator application 256 and enter profileinformation, such as information about their identity and the preferredtypes of notifications (e.g., Locate technician dispatched to dig area,Locate technician on site at dig area, Ticket marked, Ticket approved,Locate details) and preferred methods of notifications (e.g., email, SMStext message, phone call, pager message).

At step 612, the current status of locate requests is monitored. Forexample, status and/or other information is returned from onsitecomputers/locate personnel devices to workforce management application254 and/or ticket approval application 256 of central server 222.Informed excavator application 258 queries workforce managementapplication 254 and/or ticket approval application 256 for the statusand/or other information. Certain status conditions may include, but arenot limited to, ticket received, ticket dispatched, locate operation inprogress, ticket marked, ticket approved, ticket closed, and the like.

At step 614, notification component 516 of informed excavatorapplication 258 generates notifications to excavators 114 based on thecurrent status of locate requests and then transits the notificationsbased on the types and methods of notifications that are selected in therespective excavator profiles 512 of excavators 114.

In one example, when the types of notifications selected in the profileinformation is “All types of notifications,” the preferred method ofnotification is “SMS text message,” and the current status is “ticketdispatched,” a “Locate technician dispatched to dig area” notificationmay be automatically transmitted to the excavator 114. For example, atext message may be generated and transmitted to the cell phone of theexcavator 114 as follows—“For Ticket No. 2645134, locate technician hasbeen dispatched to dig area on Friday, Dec. 5, 2008 at 9:30 AM.”Continuing the example, when the current status changes to “ticketmarked,” a “Ticket marked” notification may be automatically transmittedto the excavator 114. For example, a text message may be generated andtransmitted to the cell phone of the excavator 114 as follows—“TicketNo. 2645134 is marked on Friday, Dec. 5, 2008 at 11:46 AM.”

In another example, when the types of notifications selected in theprofile information is “Ticket closed” only and the preferred method ofnotification is a phone call, only when the current status is “ticketclosed” will the excavator 114 receive a phone call notification. Forexample, when the current status is “ticket closed,” the excavator 114may receive a phone call directly from the locate technician whoperformed the locate operation to inform the excavator 114 that theticket of interest has been closed on a certain date and time.Alternatively, the excavator 114 may receive a phone call from a certainlocate party 130 and/or one-call center 120 in order to inform theexcavator 114 that the ticket of interest has been closed. The phonecall may be a manually generated phone call from personnel of a certainlocate party 130 and/or one-call center 120. Alternatively, the phonecall is automatically initiated via an IVR system.

At step 616, notification component 516 of informed excavatorapplication 258 transmits detailed information about locate operationsto the excavators. More specifically, when “Locate information” isselected in the excavator profile, detailed information about the locateoperation of a certain ticket may be transmitted by notificationapplication 226 to the excavator 114 who originated the locate request.For example, the excavator 114 may receive the following informationabout a certain locate operation:

-   -   (1) the original VWL image and/or series of VWL images;    -   (2) an electronic copy of the completed ticket, which may        include a status code indicating whether or not the locate        operation was completed;    -   (3) the corresponding EM image 248 that was generated by locate        personnel 134 via EM application 246 and that shows various        details of the locate operation;    -   (4) the corresponding electronic representation of the locate        operation, which may include, e.g., the locate technician's        name, the locate equipment used, the diagnosis software used on        the locate equipment, the locate technician's history at the        site, and a description of the conditions in and/or around the        dig area (e.g., whether there is a fence and the number of        houses or other structures present);    -   (5) an assessment of the risk of excavation in the dig area        (e.g., a descriptive or numeric risk assigned based on such        factors as whether there is a buried line, a high pressure gas        line, or other high risk condition within or near the dig area);        and    -   (6) any combinations thereof.

Referring to FIG. 7, a flow diagram of an example of a method 700 ofusing informed excavator system 200 is presented. Method 700 mayinclude, but is not limited to, the following steps, which are notlimited to any order.

At step 710, a locate request that includes a VWL image and/or a projectticket that includes a series of VWL images of the proposed dig area issubmitted to a one-call center. More specifically, a certain excavator114 may use VWL application to generate a VWL image and/or series of VWLimages and then submit a locate request and/or project ticket,respectively, to a certain one-call center 120.

At step 712, the locate request that includes a VWL image and/or aproject ticket that includes a series of VWL images is passed from acertain one-call center 120 to a certain locate party 130. Morespecifically, the locate request that is generated in step 710 istransmitted from the one-call center 120 to central server 212 of acertain locate party 130 that is to perform the locate operation.

In various exemplary implementations, a locate request ticket providedto a locate party 130 may include one or both of image data andnon-image data associated with the dig area. As discussed above, theimage data may include at least one marked-up image of a geographic areaincluding the dig area, wherein the marked-up image(s) includes at leastone dig area indicator (e.g., virtual white lines) to provide anindication of the dig area. Again, the dig area indicator(s) (e.g.,virtual white lines) typically are placed on the image (e.g., by theexcavator or one-call center) before the ticket is received by thelocate party. In some implementations, the dig indicator(s)/virtualwhite lines may be added to the image at a first user location remotefrom the dig area and/or without acquiring geographic coordinates forthe dig area indicator(s). Examples of non-image data that may beincluded in or otherwise associated with the locate request ticket mayinclude, but are not limited to, one or more of the following: a textdescription of the dig area; a plurality of geographic coordinatesassociated with the at least one dig area indicator; an address or a lotnumber of at least one property within which the dig area is located; astreet intersection in a vicinity of the dig area; a date and/or time ofday for an excavation of the dig area; a first identifier associatedwith an excavator to perform the excavation activities; a secondidentifier associated with at least one environmental landmark in thevicinity of the dig area; and a ticket identifier for the locate requestticket. Any of the image data or non-image data associated with thelocate request ticket may be provided to one or more parties inconnection with one or more notifications regarding the status of locateoperations, as discussed in greater detail below.

At step 714, workforce management application 254 assigns the locaterequest that is generated in step 712 to a certain locate personnel 134,such as a locate technician, and the locate technician is dispatched todig area.

At step 716, the originating excavator 114 may be notified by informedexcavator application 258, which is monitoring the status of the locaterequest, that the locate technician is in route to the dig area. Forexample, notification component 516 may generate a “Locate techniciandispatched to dig area” notification, which may be received by theexcavator 114 by the notification method selected in his/her excavatorprofile. Receiving this notification allows the excavator 114 theopportunity to proceed to the dig area in the event that he/she wishesto discuss any details of the planned excavation with locate personnel134, in order to avoid any misunderstanding and/or miscommunicationsabout the locate operation and, thereby, reduce the risk of damage tounderground facilities during excavation.

At step 718, the locate technician that was dispatched in step 714arrives at dig area.

At step 720, the originating excavator 114 may be notified by informedexcavator application 258, which is monitoring the status of the locaterequest, that the locate technician has arrived at the dig area. Forexample, notification component 516 may generate a “Locate technician onsite at dig area” notification, which may be received by the excavator114 by the notification method selected in his/her excavator profile.Again, receiving this notification allows the excavator 114 theopportunity to proceed to the dig area in the event that the excavator114 wishes to discuss any details of the planned excavation with thelocate personnel.

At step 722, the locate technician performs the locate operation at thedig area according to the instructions of the locate request to whichhe/she has been assigned. As noted earlier, it should be appreciatedthat during a given locate operation, underground facilities may or maynot be found at the dig area, but that given either a presence orabsence of facilities, the performance of the locate operation,including an inspection of the dig area, may be verified as completed bythe locate technician.

In particular, at step 724, the locate technician completes the locateoperation and the ticket status is updated accordingly. For example, a“ticket marked” status may be communicated by workforce managementclient of onsite computer/locate personnel device to workforcemanagement application 254.

At step 726, the excavator 114 may be notified by informed excavatorapplication 258, which is monitoring the status of the locate request,that the ticket is marked, which means that the locate operation hasbeen completed by the locate technician, but may be pending approval.More specifically, notification component 516 may generate a “Ticketmarked (but pending approval)” notification. This notification may bereceived by the excavator 114 by the notification method selected inhis/her excavator profile.

At decision step 728, it is determined whether the ticket of the currentlocate operation is to be subjected to a quality control process. Ifyes, method 700 may proceed to step 730. If no, method 700 may proceedto step 732.

At step 730, the ticket of the current locate operation is processed byticket approval application 256. If the ticket passes the qualitycontrol process satisfactorily, method 700 may proceed directly to step732 with no further action. If the ticket does not pass the qualitycontrol process satisfactorily, quality control action is taken untilthe ticket passes the quality control process satisfactorily, method 700may then proceed to step 732.

At step 732, the ticket of the current locate operation is classified asticket approved. In this way, the quality of the locate operation iscertified.

At step 734, the originating excavator 114 may be notified by informedexcavator application 258, which is monitoring the status of the locaterequest, that the ticket is approved. For example, notificationcomponent 516 may generate a “Ticket approved” notification, which maybe received by the excavator 114 by the notification method selected inhis/her excavator profile. Receiving this notification allows theexcavator 114 the opportunity to proceed to the dig area to perform theplanned excavation with little or no delay from the date and time atwhich the locate operation was completed.

At step 736, the originating excavator 114 may receive the original VWLimage plus other information about the locate operation. Morespecifically, when “Locate information” is selected in the excavatorprofile, detailed information about the locate operation of a certainticket (e.g., one or both of image data and non-image data, someexamples of which were discussed above) may be transmitted by informedexcavator application 258 to the originating excavator 114. For example,the excavator 114 may receive (1) the original VWL image and/or seriesof VWL images; (2) an electronic copy of the completed ticket (includingimage and/or non-image data); (3) the corresponding EM image that wasgenerated via EM application 246 and that shows details of the locateoperation (including “clears” in which an image is not necessarilymarked-up with locate mark indicators, but other important non-imagedata is associated with the EM image), including an EM image that mayalso show the original virtual white lines; (4) the correspondingelectronic representation of the locate operation (e.g., non-image dataor information without a marked-up image component); (5) an assessmentof the risk of excavation in the dig area (e.g., a descriptive ornumeric risk assigned based on such factors as whether there is a buriedline, a high pressure gas line, or other high risk condition within ornear the dig area); and (6) any combinations thereof.

At step 738, having detailed knowledge of the locate operation from theinformation provided in step 736, the excavator 114 may perform theplanned excavation of the dig area with increased confidence, which hasthe result of reducing the risk of damage to underground facilitiesduring excavation.

Referring again to FIGS. 1 through 7, informed excavator system 200 andthe associated methods 600 and 700 of the present disclosure are notlimited to providing status notifications and/or information aboutlocate operations to personnel (e.g., excavators 114) of excavationcompanies only. Status notifications and/or information about locateoperations may be provided to any entity associated with locateoperations, such as, but not limited to, those included in informedexcavator system 200.

Referring again to FIG. 2, the functionality of the informed excavatorapplication 258 may be combined with the functionality of VWLapplication 232 or 234 so that a single interface can be used not onlyto manage the communication of status notifications and/or informationabout locate operations, but also to submit one or more VWL imagesand/or locate requests, as described herein. More particularly, anexcavator may use a single interface to manage the communication ofstatus notifications and/or information about locate operations andsubmit VWL images and/or locate requests, and efficiently perform thesetasks during a single login session or the like.

FIG. 8 shows an exemplary method 800 of using an excavator informationapplication that combines the functionality of the informed excavatorapplication 258 and VWL application 232 or 234. The excavatorinformation application may be stored on central server 222 as discussedin connection with the informed excavator application 258, on excavatordevices 212 as discussed in connection with VWL application 232, on acomputing system associated with one-call center 120 as discussed inconnection with VWL application 234, or some other suitable location(s).Method 800 may include, but is not limited to, the following steps,which need not be performed in the order shown.

At step 810, an excavator accesses the excavator information applicationand enters profile information. This step is analogous to step 610 ofFIG. 6 and may involve the same actions described in connectiontherewith.

At step 812, the excavator enters locate information and/or generates aVWL image. The excavator information application may include thefunctionality of VWL application 232 or 234, such that the locateinformation may be entered and the VWL image may be generated in themanner described in connection with those applications. For example, aVWL image 238 may be created using the VWL application 232 shown in FIG.3. Locate information, such as information specifying a dig area, may beinput by an excavator using a marking tool such as the dig area markingtool of VWL application 232, a form with data fields, or another meansof data input. The locate information and/or VWL image may be submittedto a one-call center as part of a locate request. For example, theexcavator may submit a locate request without a VWL image. If a VWLimage is required, the one-call center may use the information in thelocate request submitted by the excavator to generate a VWL image.Alternatively, the excavator may submit the locate information and/orVWL image to a one-call center pursuant to an already submitted locaterequest, or in advance of a locate request not yet submitted.

Steps 814, 816 and 818 may proceed as discussed in connection withanalogous steps 612, 614 and 616 of FIG. 6. In particular, the excavatorinformation application may monitor the status of a locate operation,generate and provides notification(s) to an excavator based on thestatus of the locate operation and profile information entered in step810, and optionally provide detailed information about the locateoperation to the excavator in the same manner as the informed excavatorapplication 258 discussed herein.

In summary and referring again to FIGS. 1 through 7, informed excavatorsystem 200 and the associated methods 600 and 700 of the presentdisclosure may provide the following benefits, which are otherwise notpresent in current processes:

-   -   Improved communications infrastructure between excavators and        locate service providers. This may be accomplished via the        exchange of information electronically between entities        associated with the informed excavator system 200;    -   Better ways of communicating the status of locate operations to        excavators in a timely manner (i.e., substantially real time),        which may reduce, preferably entirely eliminate, the uncertainty        as to whether the locate operation is complete. This may be        accomplished via notification request application 220 of        application server 210 and notification application 226 of        central server 212, the combination of which facilitate        notifications that are transmitted to excavators;    -   Information to the excavator about the locate operation that        substantially improves the confidence of the excavator that the        locate operation has been performed satisfactorily prior to        beginning the excavation activities, which may reduce,        preferably entirely eliminate, the risk of damage to underground        facilities. This may be accomplished via the locate operation        certification process of ticket approval application 224 of        central server 212. Further, this may be accomplished by        transmitting details (e.g., EM images from EM application 232)        about the locate operation to excavators, and    -   Improved project planning, management, and/or tracking with        respect to locate operations. This may be accomplished via the        use of project component 218 of VWL application 216, which may        be used to generate a series of VWL images with respect to        project tickets that are ongoing.        Conclusion

While various inventive embodiments have been described and illustratedherein, those of ordinary skill in the art will readily envision avariety of other means and/or structures for performing the functionand/or obtaining the results and/or one or more of the advantagesdescribed herein, and each of such variations and/or modifications isdeemed to be within the scope of the inventive embodiments describedherein. More generally, those skilled in the art will readily appreciatethat all parameters, dimensions, materials, and configurations describedherein are meant to be exemplary and that the actual parameters,dimensions, materials, and/or configurations will depend upon thespecific application or applications for which the inventive teachingsis/are used. Those skilled in the art will recognize, or be able toascertain using no more than routine experimentation, many equivalentsto the specific inventive embodiments described herein. It is,therefore, to be understood that the foregoing embodiments are presentedby way of example only and that, within the scope of the appended claimsand equivalents thereto, inventive embodiments may be practicedotherwise than as specifically described and claimed. Inventiveembodiments of the present disclosure are directed to each individualfeature, system, article, material, kit, and/or method described herein.In addition, any combination of two or more such features, systems,articles, materials, kits, and/or methods, if such features, systems,articles, materials, kits, and/or methods are not mutually inconsistent,is included within the inventive scope of the present disclosure.

The above-described embodiments can be implemented in any of numerousways. For example, the embodiments may be implemented using hardware,software or a combination thereof. When implemented in software, thesoftware code can be executed on any suitable processor or collection ofprocessors, whether provided in a single computer or distributed amongmultiple computers.

Further, it should be appreciated that a computer may be embodied in anyof a number of forms, such as a rack-mounted computer, a desktopcomputer, a laptop computer, or a tablet computer. Additionally, acomputer may be embedded in a device not generally regarded as acomputer but with suitable processing capabilities, including a PersonalDigital Assistant (PDA), a smart phone or any other suitable portable orfixed electronic device.

Also, a computer may have one or more input and output devices. Thesedevices can be used, among other things, to present a user interface.Examples of output devices that can be used to provide a user interfaceinclude printers or display screens for visual presentation of outputand speakers or other sound generating devices for audible presentationof output. Examples of input devices that can be used for a userinterface include keyboards, and pointing devices, such as mice, touchpads, and digitizing tablets. As another example, a computer may receiveinput information through speech recognition or in other audible format.

Such computers may be interconnected by one or more networks in anysuitable form, including a local area network or a wide area network,such as an enterprise network, and intelligent network (IN) or theInternet. Such networks may be based on any suitable technology and mayoperate according to any suitable protocol and may include wirelessnetworks, wired networks or fiber optic networks.

FIG. 9 shows an illustrative computing device, e.g., computer 900, thatmay be used at least in part to implement any one or more of theapplications described herein. In the example shown, the illustrativecomputer 900 is used to implement the excavator information application902 described in connection with FIG. 8. For example, the computer 900comprises a memory 910, one or more processing units 912, one or morecommunication interfaces 914, one or more display units 916, and one ormore user input devices 918. The memory 910 may comprise anycomputer-readable media, and may store computer instructions forimplementing the excavator information application 902. The processingunit(s) 912 may be used to execute the instructions. The communicationinterface(s) 914 may be coupled to a wired or wireless network, bus, orother communication means and may therefore allow the computer 900 totransmit communications to and/or receive communications from otherdevices. The display unit(s) 916 may be provided, for example, to allowa user to view various information in connection with execution of theinstructions. The user input device(s) 918 may be provided, for example,to allow the user to make manual adjustments, make selections, enterdata or various other information, and/or interact in any of a varietyof manners with the processor during execution of the instructions.

FIG. 10 illustrates an exemplary graphical user interface (GUI) that maybe used in connection with providing inputs to the excavator informationapplication, according to one embodiment of the present invention. TheGUI 1000 may comprise, for example, a liquid crystal display or otherdisplay screen to display information, and may have a touch-sensitivescreen and/or be associated with one or more other user input devices toreceive user inputs. In the exemplary interface shown in FIG. 10, achecklist of notification types 1002 and a checklist of notificationcommunication methods 1004 are displayed. To establish a user profile, auser may check one or more desired notification types 1002 and one ormore desired notification communication methods 1004 in the displayedchecklists. The selected notification type(s) and/or notificationcommunication method(s) may be saved as a user profile, which mayinclude default preferences for the user. At the bottom of the screen,the user is prompted to indicate, via check box and prompt 1006, whetherthe user would like to submit a locate request and/or generate a VWLimage. If the user indicates such interest by selecting the check box,the GUI 1000 will display an interface such as the VWL applicationinterface shown in FIG. 3 so that the user may generate a VWL imageand/or submit a locate request as discussed in connection with thatapplication. The locate request may include a VWL image and/or a dataset relating to a VWL image, although such information may not benecessary.

In the example described above, the user who establishes a user profileusing the GUI 1000 of FIG. 10 may be an excavator or other partyassociated with providing a locate request. However, a user profile maybe established by other parties, such as a facility owner, a locateparty, a party informed by regulatory requirements, contractrequirements, or other requirements for such notifications, and/or somecombination of the foregoing. In this way, a facility owner, locateparty, and/or regulatory body may dictate the positive responsenotifications received by a party associated with providing a locaterequest (e.g., an excavator) and/or how such positive notifications arereceived by the party. For example, a particular facility owner mayspecify preferred notification type(s) and notification communicationmethod(s) for all locate and/or marking operations that involve theirfacility, per agreement with a locate party. Further, a user profile maybe established without using the GUI described in connection with FIG.10. For example, the excavator information application may receiveinputs from a file that includes information (e.g., contract and/orregulatory requirements) that may be used to generate the user profile.

The various methods or processes outlined herein may be coded assoftware that is executable on one or more processors that employ anyone of a variety of operating systems or platforms. Additionally, suchsoftware may be written using any of a number of suitable programminglanguages and/or programming or scripting tools, and also may becompiled as executable machine language code or intermediate code thatis executed on a framework or virtual machine.

In this respect, various inventive concepts may be embodied as acomputer readable storage medium (or multiple computer readable storagemedia) (e.g., a computer memory, one or more floppy discs, compactdiscs, optical discs, magnetic tapes, flash memories, circuitconfigurations in Field Programmable Gate Arrays or other semiconductordevices, or other non-transitory medium or tangible computer storagemedium) encoded with one or more programs that, when executed on one ormore computers or other processors, perform methods that implement thevarious embodiments of the invention discussed above. The computerreadable medium or media can be transportable, such that the program orprograms stored thereon can be loaded onto one or more differentcomputers or other processors to implement various aspects of thepresent invention as discussed above.

The terms “program” or “software” are used herein in a generic sense torefer to any type of computer code or set of computer-executableinstructions that can be employed to program a computer or otherprocessor to implement various aspects of embodiments as discussedabove. Additionally, it should be appreciated that according to oneaspect, one or more computer programs that when executed perform methodsof the present invention need not reside on a single computer orprocessor, but may be distributed in a modular fashion amongst a numberof different computers or processors to implement various aspects of thepresent invention.

Computer-executable instructions may be in many forms, such as programmodules, executed by one or more computers or other devices. Generally,program modules include routines, programs, objects, components, datastructures, etc. that perform particular tasks or implement particularabstract data types. Typically the functionality of the program modulesmay be combined or distributed as desired in various embodiments.

Also, data structures may be stored in computer-readable media in anysuitable form. For simplicity of illustration, data structures may beshown to have fields that are related through location in the datastructure. Such relationships may likewise be achieved by assigningstorage for the fields with locations in a computer-readable medium thatconvey relationship between the fields. However, any suitable mechanismmay be used to establish a relationship between information in fields ofa data structure, including through the use of pointers, tags or othermechanisms that establish relationship between data elements.

Also, various inventive concepts may be embodied as one or more methods,of which an example has been provided. The acts performed as part of themethod may be ordered in any suitable way. Accordingly, embodiments maybe constructed in which acts are performed in an order different thanillustrated, which may include performing some acts simultaneously, eventhough shown as sequential acts in illustrative embodiments.

All definitions, as defined and used herein, should be understood tocontrol over dictionary definitions, definitions in documentsincorporated by reference, and/or ordinary meanings of the definedterms.

The indefinite articles “a” and “an,” as used herein in thespecification and in the claims, unless clearly indicated to thecontrary, should be understood to mean “at least one.”

The phrase “and/or,” as used herein in the specification and in theclaims, should be understood to mean “either or both” of the elements soconjoined, i.e., elements that are conjunctively present in some casesand disjunctively present in other cases. Multiple elements listed with“and/or” should be construed in the same fashion, i.e., “one or more” ofthe elements so conjoined. Other elements may optionally be presentother than the elements specifically identified by the “and/or” clause,whether related or unrelated to those elements specifically identified.Thus, as a non-limiting example, a reference to “A and/or B”, when usedin conjunction with open-ended language such as “comprising” can refer,in one embodiment, to A only (optionally including elements other thanB); in another embodiment, to B only (optionally including elementsother than A); in yet another embodiment, to both A and B (optionallyincluding other elements); etc.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, “or” should beunderstood to have the same meaning as “and/or” as defined above. Forexample, when separating items in a list, “or” or “and/or” shall beinterpreted as being inclusive, i.e., the inclusion of at least one, butalso including more than one, of a number or list of elements, and,optionally, additional unlisted items. Only terms clearly indicated tothe contrary, such as “only one of” or “exactly one of,” or, when usedin the claims, “consisting of,” will refer to the inclusion of exactlyone element of a number or list of elements. In general, the term “or”as used herein shall only be interpreted as indicating exclusivealternatives (i.e. “one or the other but not both”) when preceded byterms of exclusivity, such as “either,” “one of,” “only one of,” or“exactly one of.” “Consisting essentially of,” when used in the claims,shall have its ordinary meaning as used in the field of patent law.

As used herein in the specification and in the claims, the phrase “atleast one,” in reference to a list of one or more elements, should beunderstood to mean at least one element selected from any one or more ofthe elements in the list of elements, but not necessarily including atleast one of each and every element specifically listed within the listof elements and not excluding any combinations of elements in the listof elements. This definition also allows that elements may optionally bepresent other than the elements specifically identified within the listof elements to which the phrase “at least one” refers, whether relatedor unrelated to those elements specifically identified. Thus, as anon-limiting example, “at least one of A and B” (or, equivalently, “atleast one of A or B,” or, equivalently “at least one of A and/or B”) canrefer, in one embodiment, to at least one, optionally including morethan one, A, with no B present (and optionally including elements otherthan B); in another embodiment, to at least one, optionally includingmore than one, B, with no A present (and optionally including elementsother than A); in yet another embodiment, to at least one, optionallyincluding more than one, A, and at least one, optionally including morethan one, B (and optionally including other elements); etc.

In the claims, as well as in the specification above, all transitionalphrases such as “comprising,” “including,” “carrying,” “having,”“containing,” “involving,” “holding,” “composed of,” and the like are tobe understood to be open-ended, i.e., to mean including but not limitedto. Only the transitional phrases “consisting of” and “consistingessentially of” shall be closed or semi-closed transitional phrases,respectively, as set forth in the United States Patent Office Manual ofPatent Examining Procedures, Section 2111.03.

What is claimed is:
 1. An apparatus for providing information regardinga locate and/or marking operation, the apparatus comprising: acommunication interface; a memory to store processor-executableinstructions; and a processing unit communicatively coupled to thecommunication interface and the memory, wherein upon execution of theprocessor-executable instructions by the processing unit, the processingunit: electronically receives, via the communication interface, firstinput relating to the dig area; based on the first input, renders adigital virtual white line image including at least one dig areaindicator to provide at least one indication of the dig area withrespect to a geographic area; controls the communication interface toreceive second input regarding a notification type and/or a notificationcommunication method for at least one notification indicating a statusand/or providing information relating to the performance of the locateand/or marking operation, the locate and/or marking operation comprisingdetecting and/or marking, in response to at least one locate requestticket, a presence or an absence of at least one underground facilitywithin a dig area, wherein at least a portion of the dig area is plannedto be excavated or disturbed during excavation activities; generates theat least one notification based at least in part on the notificationtype and/or the notification communication method; and further controlsthe communication interface and/or the memory to electronically transmitand/or electronically store the at least one notification so as toinform at least one party associated with providing at least one locaterequest relating to the locate and/or marking operation of the statusand/or performance of the locate and/or marking operation.
 2. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing unit: further controls thecommunication interface and/or the memory to electronically transmitinformation relating to the digital virtual white line image so as tofacilitate the locate and/or marking operation.
 3. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the processing unit: further controls the communicationinterface and/or the memory to electronically store information relatingto the digital virtual white line image so as to facilitate the locateand/or marking operation.
 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein theprocessing unit: electronically receives source data representing atleast one input image of the geographic area including the dig area; andrenders the digital virtual white line image such that the at least onedig area indicator is overlaid on at least a portion of the at least oneinput image.
 5. The apparatus of claim 4, wherein the at least one inputimage comprises at least one map of the geographic area.
 6. Theapparatus of claim 5, wherein the at least one map of the geographicarea includes one or more of: a street/road map, a topographical map, amilitary map, a parcel map, a tax map, a town or county planning map, apolygon map, a facilities map, and a virtual map.
 7. The apparatus ofclaim 4, wherein the source data comprises geo-encoded informationrelating to the geographical area.
 8. The apparatus of claim 4, the atleast one input image comprises at least one photographic image.
 9. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one notification comprisesstatus information about the locate and/or marking operation.
 10. Theapparatus of claim 9, wherein the status information relates to at leastone event occurring during and/or after the detecting and/or marking.11. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing unit: controls thecommunication interface to receive the input relating to the status ofthe locate and/or marking operation at least once after dispatch of atleast one locate technician to the dig area but before completion of thelocate and/or marking operation.
 12. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe processing unit: further controls the communication interface and/orthe memory to electronically transmit and/or electronically store the atleast one notification in real time so as to inform the at least oneparty associated with providing the at least one locate request of acurrent status of the locate and/or marking operation.
 13. The apparatusof claim 1, wherein the at least one notification indicates that alocate technician has been dispatched to the dig area.
 14. The apparatusof claim 1, wherein the at least one notification indicates a locationof a locate technician assigned to the locate and/or marking operation.15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one notificationindicates that the locate and/or marking operation has been certified tomeet a quality standard and/or approved.
 16. The apparatus of claim 1,wherein the at least one notification indicates that certificationand/or approval of the locate and/or marking operation is pending. 17.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one notificationindicates that the locate and/or marking operation has been delayed. 18.The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one notificationindicates an expiration time of the at least one locate request ticketwith respect to a current time.
 19. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe at least one notification indicates that excavation may begin withinthe dig area.
 20. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least onenotification indicates that the detecting and/or marking is in progress.21. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the at least one notificationindicates that the locate and/or marking operation is complete.
 22. Theapparatus of claim 21, wherein the at least one notification comprisesperformance information about the locate and/or marking operation. 23.The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the performance information about thelocate and/or marking operation comprises the digital virtual white lineimage indicating the dig area.
 24. The apparatus of claim 22, whereinthe performance information about the locate and/or marking operationcomprises an electronic copy of a completed locate request ticket. 25.The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the performance information about thelocate and/or marking operation comprises an assessment of a risk ofexcavation in the dig area.
 26. The apparatus of claim 22, wherein theperformance information about the locate and/or marking operationcomprises a description of conditions in and/or around the dig area. 27.The apparatus of claim 22, wherein the performance information about thelocate and/or marking operation comprises an electronic representationof the locate and/or marking operation.
 28. The apparatus of claim 22,wherein the performance information about the locate and/or markingoperation comprises an electronic manifest image showing details of thelocate and/or marking operation.
 29. The apparatus of claim 28, whereinthe electronic manifest image of the locate and/or marking operation isstored and/or transmitted as a limited access file.
 30. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the processing unit: generates the at least onenotification based at least in part on data from a data-enabled markingdevice.
 31. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing unitfurther controls the memory to store in a user profile the notificationtype and/or the notification communication method.
 32. The apparatus ofclaim 31, wherein the user profile defines default preferences for thenotification type and/or the notification communication method withrespect to a user associated with the user profile.
 33. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the second input includes the notificationcommunication method, and the notification communication method includesone or more of an email, an SMS text message, an instant message, aphone call, a pager message, and a rich site summary (RSS) feed.
 34. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the second input is based at least in parton at least one regulation that mandates the notification type and/orthe notification communication method in connection with the locateand/or marking operation.
 35. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein thesecond input is based at least in part on at least one contract thatrequires the notification type and/or the notification communicationmethod in connection with the locate and/or marking operation.
 36. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the communication interface comprises auser interface comprising a display, and wherein the processing unit:controls the communication interface to render a graphical userinterface on the display to facilitate receiving the second inputrelating to the notification type and/or the notification communicationmethod; and controls the user interface to receive the second input. 37.The apparatus of claim 36, wherein the graphical user interfacecomprises a notification type menu comprising a menu optioncorresponding to the notification type.
 38. The apparatus of claim 36,wherein the graphical user interface comprises a notificationcommunication method menu comprising a menu option corresponding to thenotification communication method.
 39. The apparatus of claim 1, whereinthe processing unit further controls the communication interface toelectronically transmit the at least one notification, and wherein atleast a portion of the at least one notification is transmitted as alimited access file.
 40. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein theprocessing unit further controls the communication interface toelectronically transmit and/or electronically store the at least onenotification such that the at least one notification is accessible via aweb site.
 41. The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the web site comprise amap showing a location of the at least one locate technician.
 42. Theapparatus of claim 40, wherein the web site comprise an electronicmanifest showing details of the locate and/or marking operation and/oran electronic representation of the locate and/or marking operation. 43.The apparatus of claim 42, wherein the electronic manifest and/or theelectronic representation comprises aggregated information from aplurality of sources.
 44. The apparatus of claim 43, wherein theplurality of sources comprises a plurality of locate technicians. 45.The apparatus of claim 40, wherein the web site comprises aggregatedinformation relating to a plurality of locate and/or marking operations.46. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing unit furthercontrols the communication interface to electronically transmit the atleast one notification, and wherein the at least one notificationincludes a link to a web site.
 47. The apparatus of claim 46, whereinthe web site comprises a map showing a location of the at least onelocate technician.
 48. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the web sitecomprises an electronic manifest showing details of the locate and/ormarking operation and/or an electronic representation of the locateand/or marking operation.
 49. The apparatus of claim 48, wherein theelectronic manifest and/or the electronic representation comprisesaggregated information from a plurality of sources.
 50. The apparatus ofclaim 49, wherein the plurality of sources comprises a plurality oflocate technicians.
 51. The apparatus of claim 46, wherein the web sitecomprises aggregated information relating to a plurality of locateand/or marking operations.
 52. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein theprocessing unit: further controls the communication interface totransmit a message soliciting confirmation that the at least onenotification was received and/or accessed by the at least one partyassociated with providing the at least one locate request.
 53. Theapparatus of claim 1, wherein the processing unit: further controls thecommunication interface to receive the at least one locate request viathe communication interface; based on the at least one locate request,generates at least one locate request ticket; and further controls thecommunication interface and/or the memory to electronically transmitand/or electronically store the at least one locate request ticket so asto initiate the locate and/or marking operation.
 54. The apparatus ofclaim 1, wherein the at least one party associated with providing the atleast one locate request includes one or more of an excavator, anexcavation company, a one-call center, a property owner, a facilityowner, a regulatory authority, and a damage investigator.
 55. At leastone computer-readable medium encoded with instructions that, whenexecuted on at least one processing unit, perform a method for providinginformation regarding a locate and/or marking operation the methodcomprising: A) electronically receiving first input relating to the digarea; B) based on the first input, rendering a digital virtual whiteline image including at least one dig area indicator to provide at leastone indication of the dig area with respect to a geographic area; C)electronically receiving second input regarding a notification typeand/or a notification communication method for at least one notificationindicating a status and/or providing information relating to theperformance of the locate and/or marking operation, the locate and/ormarking operation comprising detecting and/or marking, in response to atleast one locate request ticket, a presence or an absence of at leastone underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portionof the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed duringexcavation activities; D) generating the at least one notification basedat least in part on the notification type and/or the notificationcommunication method; and E) electronically transmitting and/orelectronically storing the at least one notification so as to inform atleast one party associated with providing at least one locate requestrelating to the locate and/or marking operation of the status and/orperformance of the locate and/or marking operation.
 56. A method forproviding information regarding a locate and/or marking operation , themethod comprising: A) electronically receiving first input relating tothe dig area; B) based on the first input, rendering a digital virtualwhite line image including at least one dig area indicator to provide atleast one indication of the dig area with respect to a geographic area;C) electronically receiving second input regarding a notification typeand/or a notification communication method for at least one notificationindicating a status and/or providing information relating to theperformance of the locate and/or marking operation, the locate and/ormarking operation comprising detecting and/or marking, in response to atleast one locate request ticket, a presence or an absence of at leastone underground facility within a dig area, wherein at least a portionof the dig area is planned to be excavated or disturbed duringexcavation activities; D) generating the at least one notification basedat least in part on the notification type and/or the notificationcommunication method; and E) electronically transmitting and/orelectronically storing the at least one notification so as to inform atleast one party associated with providing at least one locate requestrelating to the locate and/or marking operation of the status and/orperformance of the locate and/or marking operation.
 57. The method ofclaim 56, wherein E) comprises electronically transmitting the at leastone notification to the at least one party associated with providing theat least one locate request.
 58. The method of claim 57, wherein the atleast one party associated with providing the at least one locaterequest includes one or more of an excavator, an excavation company, aone-call center, a property owner, a facility owner, a regulatoryauthority, and a damage investigator.
 59. The method of claim 56,wherein A) comprises electronically receiving the first input at a userlocation remote from the dig area.
 60. The method of claim 59, whereinB) comprises rendering the digital virtual white line image at the userlocation remote from the dig area.
 61. The method of claim 56, whereinB) is performed without acquiring geographic coordinates correspondingto the at least one dig area indicator.